Stable Metabolic Control but Increased Demand for Professional Support in Children with Type 1 Diabetes in the Past Ten Years in Bern/Switzerland: A Quality Control Study

Table 1

Characteristics of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus treated in 2018 at the Children’s Hospital in Bern.

	All patients		Boys		Girls
		%		%		%
	Age at first consultation (years)
<5	9	5.1	5	5.4	4	4.7
5 to <10	42	23.6	24	26.1	18	20.9
10 to <15	90	50.6	46	50.0	44	51.2
15 to <18	37	20.8	17	18.5	20	23.3
Language
Official Swiss language	153	86.0	79	85.9	74	86.0
Other language	25	14.0	13	14.1	12	14.0
Continent of parental origin^†
Europe	159	89.3	81	88.0	78	90.7
Of these Western Europe	140	78.7	9	9.8	7	8.1
Of these other Europe	19	10.7	68	73.9	61	70.9
Asia	11	6.2	7	7.6	4	4.7
Africa	5	2.8	3	3.3	2	2.3
North America	3	1.7	1	1.1	2	2.3
Body mass index (SDS)
<-2	3	1.7	2	2.2	1	1.2
-2 to <-1	16	9.0	9	9.8	7	8.1
-1 to <1	129	72.5	68	73.9	61	70.9
1 to <2	26	14.6	13	14.1	13	15.1
>=2	4	2.2	0	0.0	4	4.7
Age at T1DM manifestation (years)
<5	56	31.5	25	27.2	31	36.0
5 to <10	80	44.9	50	54.3	30	34.9
10 to <16	42	23.6	17	18.5	25	29.1
Duration of T1DM (years)
<2	50	28.1	24	26.1	26	30.2
>2	128	71.9	68	73.9	60	69.8
Modality of insulin therapy
MDI	112	62.9	56	60.9	56	65.1
CSII	47	26.4	26	28.3	21	24.4
CT	19	10.7	10	10.9	9	10.5
Continuous glucose monitoring
No	108	60.7	56	60.9	52	60.5
Yes	70	39.3	36	39.1	34	39.5
HbA1c (%)
<7.0 (<53 mmol/mol)	32	18.0	18	19.6	14	16.3
<7.5 (<59 mmol/mol)	59	33.1	32	34.8	27	39.7
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Age at first consultation (years)	11.7	3.6	11.5	3.7	12.0	3.6
Body mass index (SDS)	0.2	0.9	0.1	0.9	0.3	1.0
Age at T1DM manifestation (years)	7.0	3.7	7.0	3.7	7.0	3.8
Duration of T1DM (years)	4.7	3.6	4.4	3.2	5.0	4.0
HbA1c (%)	7.9	1.0	7.9	1.1	7.9	1.0
Number of healthcare contacts^‡
With a physician	4.2	0.9	4.3	0.8	4.1	0.9
With a nurse	4.2	3.2	4.2	2.9	4.3	3.6
With a physician and/or nurse	8.4	3.5	8.5	3.2	8.3	3.9

Abbreviations: CSII: continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion; CT: conventional therapy; MDI: multiple daily injections; SDS: standard deviation score; T1DM: type 1 diabetes mellitus. ^†Parents were from the following regions: Europe (Western, , of those from Switzerland; Northern, ; Southern, ; Eastern, ), Asia (Western, ; Southern, ; Eastern, ), Africa (Western, ; Northern, ; Eastern, ), and North America (Northern, ; Carribean, ) according to UN classification. ^‡Number of healthcare contacts refer only to patients with a T1DM duration of >1 year (all patients, ; boys, ; girls, ). Number of contacts refers to contacts within the previous 12 months.